Government, ERA announce new electricity tariffs for 2022

In an attempt to ensure better service for the customers, the government in conjunction with the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) have announced changes to the Electricity Tariff structure.

Officiating at a press conference on Thursday, the Minister for Energy and Mineral Development, Dr. Ruth Nankabirwa Ssentamu noted that the changes are in line with the National Development Plan III and Sustainable Development Goal Number 7 that calls for affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all by 2030.

“This is aimed at promoting accelerated access to clean energy for improved welfare of society for social economic transformation,” Nankabirwa said.

In a bid to improve the competitiveness of Uganda’s Manufacturing Sector under the Pilot Tariff for Industrial Parks, the government will pilot the supply of Electricity to Industrial Parks at 5.0 United States Cents per kiloWatt-hour effective January 2022.

The piloting project will commence at two (2) Industrial Parks namely; Lao Shen in Kapeka and MMP Industrial Park in Buikwe district.

The Chairperson of ERA, Dr. Sarah Kanabi Wasagali noted that the amendments that have been made aim at promoting access to, and use of electricity.

“The amendments have been made to cater for the current and future needs of the Electricity Supply Industry in an effort to reduce the cost of electricity,” said Kanabi.

She added that the Electricity demand is expected to grow at an annual rate of approximately 11.6% in 2022 and the total energy purchased by UETCL is expected to increase from 5,014 GWh projected for 2021 to 5,595 GWh in 2022.

Kanabi further noted that they considered the introduction of the declining block tariff to encourage domestic consumers to cook using electricity between 81kWh and 150kWh in the determination of the electricity tariffs for 2022.

ERA approved that the Annual base end-user tariffs for 2022 will be subjected to quarterly adjustment factors for changes in micro economic parameters across the remaining three quarters of the tariff year.

“The approved 2022 annual base end-user tariffs are; Ush747.5/kWh for Domestic, Ush 597.1/kWh for Commercial, Ush 472.0/kWh for Medium Industries, Ush 355.0/kWh for Large Industries, Ush 300.2/kWh for Extra-Large Industries and Ush 370.0/kWh for Street Lighting for the period of January to March 2022,” Kanabi revealed.